Angieville

I've decided that Laura Wiess ' books scare me. She is not afraid to incorporate the unfortunate and often hellish details of everyday life into her contemporary novels, and I have learned that I have to tread carefully if I am to imbibe, if you will. In fact, I didn't even pick up her last couple of books because I was leery of being hurt. But I was (and am) such a fan of her debut novel, Such a Pretty Girl (despite it's hellish subject matter), that I have been biding my time until I felt ready to pick up another of hers. And when I heard about Me Since You , I decided now was the time. It took me only a few pages in before I felt my mind repeatedly shying away, but I liked Rowan and her parents (and Eli) so much that I kept on reading. I read it all through in a single gulp and have been twitching my shoulders here and there all morning, trying to shake off the heavy feelings it left behind. Rowan Areno used to worry about cutting class and being caught by her p...

I've had an ongoing relationship with Elizabeth Scott 's books for some time now. Ever since I picked up Bloom and settled in with a nerdy girl like me who played the clarinet. And then there was that one out of this world kiss in the kitchen . . . I'm sorry, where were we? Right. Since then, I've dipped in and out as Scott has continued to write. But it had been awhile since my last outing, and so when Heartbeat began showing up on the early radar, I felt like it was time. I didn't even really delve too much into what it was about before starting. And so I was, well, maybe a little ambushed by the guns this book was packing. Not that I wasn't expecting reality in all its graininess. But. Scott really steps up her emotional stranglehold with this latest contemporary. Let's just say a lot of time has passed since I finished it. It took me that long to decide what I wanted to say and figure out where my feelings were situated. Emma remembers a time when t...

If I stop and hold still for a minute, I can still feel the tingles I felt after finishing Scarlet last year. It was that good to read a new and, more importantly, impressive Robin Hood retelling. And it was impressive. From the gender-swapping and Scarlet's dialect to the individual members of the young band, each of them keeping their own secrets. I really had no idea where Ms. Gaughen would take them after everything spiraled so maddeningly out of control at the end. And now, having read it, I love how many times, and with what unflinching force, she surprised me in Lady Thief . I never saw things coming. I mean, I saw a couple of things coming. But by and large I gasped more than I nodded knowingly. And even now I can hear my husband laughing. He is used to my gasps. He is also used to me looking up with glassy eyes and whispering something along the lines of, "Everything is not okay." But more on that later. Some spoilers for the end of the first book I found i...

I can thank the ever-reliable Carolyn Crane for inspiring me to track down an advanced copy of this one. I read her mini-review on Goodreads and was seriously sold. She said it was romantic, smart, and full of "character mysteries," a term I had never even really thought of before but that I instantly got and loved. So it was Carolyn's review and the following little teaser line from the novella that piqued my interest: I will meet you on Wednesdays at noon in Celebration Park. Kissing only. Um, yes. Yes, please. Shades of Ruthie Knox 's Big Boy began to drift over me (Knox actually blurbed this one). And we all know how I felt about that little bit of perfection . So basically at that point nothing--but nothing--was keeping me from giving Mary Ann Rivers ' debut novella a shot. Carrie had a minor existential meltdown at work. Just a minor one. It involved her supervisor (and friend) at the library offhandedly remarking that an Alaskan cruise with Carrie...

Sometimes you run across a certain author at just the right time. In my case, it often happens post-some trauma or other, when I am . . . depleted, if you will, and sorely in need of something that will wrap me up in its charm or beauty and give me back a little bit of what I lost. Kristan Higgins is one of those authors. I discovered her not long after having my third baby (never in a million years did I think I'd have cause to use that phrase), and the laughter and hesitant, honest emotion her stories provided served as a balm. She has a nice backlist, and I blew through it with gusto. A few became dear favorites, others merely pleasant ways to pass the time. I tend to think there's probably a Higgins book for everyone, and I'm ever curious as to which one works for which reader. My top three are All I Ever Wanted , Catch of the Day , and  Until There Was You . I foresee rereading them indefinitely. All of which is to say that I always look forward to her new releases. W...

Jennifer E. Smith gets the cutest covers in the world, doesn't she? I  picked up  The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight almost entirely on the merits of its adorable cover alone. And when I saw the cover for This is What Happy Looks Like , I immediately began daydreaming about how happy they would look next to each other on my shelves--an activity I engage in all too often when it comes to books of a feather. And given how much I loved   The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, I felt that my feelings for her next novel were sort of a foregone conclusion. Especially when you take into account the much-billed You've Got Mail meets Notting Hill premise. I ask you--who can resist the wild potential of that setup? No one. That is who. But one of the things I loved the most about The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight was how it packed so much more of a punch than its name or cover suggested. It was deeper and wider than its slim-is...

Have you ever seen Out of Africa ? It's this old Sydney Pollack film starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, and it is sort of loosely based on Isak Dinesen's (pseudonym of Danish author Karen Blixen) autobiographical book of the same name. I ask because it (and its soundtrack) was a staple in my house growing up, and when I first read the brief synopsis for Deanna Raybourn 's latest standalone novel,  A Spear of Summer Grass , it was literally the first thing that popped into my mind. They just sounded fairly similar what with the same setting, though the time period is a good decade later in Raybourn's novel than in Pollack's film. Since I have fond memories of the movie as a girl, this only upped my eagerness to read the book. I get all excited when an author I love changes things up on her readers. I am a devoted fan of Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey Victorian mystery series and I thoroughly enjoyed her standalone Gothic novel, The Dead Travel Fast . As f...

What's that you say? You love a good dissenting opinion? Well, that's works out well. Because here I am. Not thrilled, but certainly prepared, to be the lone voice of dissent on this one. I went ahead and read an ARC of Katja Millay's The Sea of Tranquility after sifting through the seemingly universal ecstatic reviews that have been pouring in from all and sundry. And when I say universal, I mean universal . Readers across the board are going out of their ever loving minds over this book. Yeah. I kind of had to get in on that action, especially when a review copy floated my way. This is Millay's debut novel. She self-published it a couple of months ago, and it has (as has become the way of things) since been acquired by Atria Books for paperback publication this summer. A change of cover went along with the acquisition (as is usually the case), and I have to say I'm likely in the minority on this subject as well. I much prefer the self-pub cover. But as the ove...

You'll remember my excitement upon discovering Cassie Alexander and Nightshifted -- her fabulous urban fantasy debut. I loved everything about it, from the killer cover to the hard-working, conflicted protagonist inside. When I realized the sequel was set to be published just a few months later I was, well, over the moon. Go on. Raise your hands. I know I'm not the only one who waits (with barely concealed ill grace) a year for each new installment in her favorite series. It can be a hard wait. I understand why, and I am nothing if not extremely grateful for everything that goes into the writing and publishing processes. But it can be a hard wait. That's why two in one year? Such a treat. That said, the closing events of Nightshifted were portentous to say the least. And I was pretty anxious about where Edie would be (and in what condition) when I found her next, who would be around to help her, and who . . . would not. Edie Spence isn't fresh off the shelf on t...

The moment I heard about   a steampunk retelling of Jane Eyre, I geared up for its release. I am always up for a retelling of this book. And I've had spectacular success in the past. This one is not YA, or even New Adult, and I could tell it relied more heavily on the rich fantasy aspects of the world and story, all of which I was eager to fall into. I love the cover, particularly the iron mask, and everything about it just had the ring of excellence to it. This is not to say that I wasn't apprehensive, because there's always a bit of that when you go into a retelling of any kind, isn't there? But do any of you ever start to tire of your own wariness when it comes to upcoming releases? I go back and forth between feeling justifyingly jaded (particularly when it comes to oversaturated genres or tropes) and feeling like shaking off all my suspicion and caution and just jumping in like I used to as a kid. Because the exhaustion of both maintaining expectations and forci...

Once again I fall prey to the hype monster. Coming off the high of Easy and the complicated mess of the aptly-named  Beautiful Disaster , I ran smack-dab into Pushing the Limits . Fairly ecstatic reviews on GoodReads piqued my interest, and before long the little click button on NetGalley was calling my name. I think I was hoping for something along the lines of the fun that I had reading  Perfect Chemistry for the first time. Maybe Going Too Far .  Upon further perusal, it certainly looked like there would be added personal drama on both sides and that hinted-at mystery aspect encouraged me even more. Perhaps it would be a touch . . . complicated. This is Katie McGarry 's first novel, and so I had no idea what the writing would be like. These expectations in mind, I downloaded it to my Nook and dug right in. Echo Emerson is back at school and thinking she should possibly be anywhere but. After the "incident," she dropped off the face of the planet. Now, after coun...

I can tell you exactly what it was made me pick up this book for review (and what it was not). It  was  the comparisons (yes, multiple) to one  Anna and the French Kiss . It was  not  the cover. Yeah, the colors are pretty and the font is nice. But otherwise it's just awkward. And cheesy. And this book is neither. I think I would have left it at the fence and skipped the junior high dance pose couple. Because while this book  does  have a romance in possession of the kind of heat you do not want to miss, that couple does  not  do them justice. There. I've said it. We shall move on. I wasn't planning on reading  My Life Next Door   at all, until I read the aforementioned comparisons and early happy reviews. Together they pushed me over the edge, and I went ahead and took the plunge. I mean, who in their right mind doesn't want to read a debut in the same vein as a  Stephanie Perkins  novel? I am pretty much incapable of ...